1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a needle blank sorting machine. More particularly, the present invention relates to a needle blank sorting machine which sequentially examines and sorts needle blanks according to their end face character.
2. Description of the Related Art
The production of needles involves many processes and different types of machinery in order to prepare quality needles from raw stock. These varying processes and machinery become more critical in the preparation of surgical needles where the environment of intended use is in humans or animals. Some of the processes involved in the production of surgical grade needles include, inter alia: straightening spooled wire stock; cutting needle blanks from the wire stock; providing a bore for receiving suture thread at one end of the blank; tapering or grinding points on the other end of the blank; flat pressing a portion of the needle barrel to facilitate easier grasping by surgical instrumentation; and curving the blanks where curved surgical needles are desired. Conventional needle processing is, in large part, a labor intensive operation requiring highly skilled labor wherein extreme care must be taken to ensure that only the intended working of the needle is performed and the other parts of the needle remain undisturbed.
The present invention relates to a highly cost efficient apparatus and method for sorting needle blanks so that the end face of the blanks are oriented in the same direction after a bore has been created in one end face of the blank.